Title
How to teach the collaborative project

Workshop description
This workshop is aimed at new(er) IB DP Theatre teachers who may have missed out on teaching the collaborative project due to the pandemic. With the return of the project this August, the workshop will offer guidance and practical ways of leading your students to success through constructive collaboration. Experienced IB DP Theatre teachers will find this workshop invaluable as a refresher.

Learning outcomes
Teachers will:
Explore approaches to an introductory collaborative project (CP) in DP1 so they can experiment with their peers.
Discuss theatre companies who have appropriate available resources for the research required.
Explore ways of managing and overseeing the group formation process for big and small classes.
Practically explore starting points and ways to get the work moving.
Explore how and when to give teacher feedback on a draft performance.
Examine ways of collecting, collating and evaluating audience feedback.

How will the workshop benefit the teacher in their curriculum delivery?
This workshop is aimed at (fairly) new IB DP Theatre teachers to aid them in first or early delivery of the collaborative project as well as acting as a refresher course for more experienced teachers. The CP is a crucial part of the IB DP Theatre assessment tasks, which has been on hold for two years due to the pandemic. It is designed to help teachers to lead students through this complex project with confidence while allowing students to take ownership of their work.

Target audience
DP Theatre teachers.

I am a teacher, a school leader and a theatre-maker. Educated in South Africa, with an MA from the UK, I taught predominantly English Literature and shifted into school leadership (mostly as IB DP Coordinator) for a few years before I decided that seeing children in my office because they had done something wrong rather than because they wanted to do something creative was not the trajectory I wanted for myself. I became Head of Performing Arts at the British School Jakarta for a number of years and decided to take a year out during this pandemic when I started The Understudy with my ex-colleague to share our wonderful resources with teachers around the world.

I believe that young people are capable of making extraordinary theatre with the right guidance and inspiration. As a director, I select and create plays that are intellectually and theatrically challenging to open my students’ minds to work they might not experience otherwise. As a teacher, I am driven by the challenge of teaching students how to think not what to think. I love the descriptor of the IB Theatre teacher as an ‘engineer of experiences’ and a ‘mentor on the students’ artistic journey’ and have spent many hours redesigning how I implement the course to create the most exciting and challenging experiences for my Theatre students whilst allowing them the freedom to explore their interests within the framework of what is being assessed.

I have taught IB DP Theatre, TOK, English Literature and co-ordinated the EE across the school so have a wide range of experiences in research across the DP subjects. I have designed and implemented a range of in-house PD on how to teach research and significantly improved whole school EE results as a result of explicitly teaching research skills. So often teachers think that someone else is teaching these skills but it is my belief that we should all be teaching them and we should be aligned with each other whilst acknowledging and being aware of differences across disciplines.

Event coordinator
Helen Abbott

Europe and Asia
8:00-10:00am – BST (British Summer Time)
9:00-11:00am – CEST (Central European Standard Time)
3:00-5:00pm – SST (Singapore Standard Time)

Americas and Europe
7:00-9:00am – PDT (Pacific Daylight Time)
10:00-12:00pm – EDT (Eastern Daylight Time)
3:00-5:00pm – BST (British Summer Time)
4:00-6:00pm – CEST (Central European Standard Time)

The cost of this workshop is GBP £35 per person for ISTA members and GBP £40 per person for non members.

Any materials shared with you prior to the workshop, such as the workbook. A notebook and pencil are always useful.

Space requirements
If possible, please try to have a small amount of space near to you for any practical work.